Some Jews Favor Easing Soviet Trade Curbs

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Some Jewish organizations are moving toward the conclusion that the United States should recognize the big increase in Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union in 1988 by removing some of the trade and tariff barriers imposed on Moscow in the last 15 years.

The American Jewish Congress voted last week to seek a temporary lifting of restrictions in the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which says that Communist countries may not receive favorable tariff treatment or credits from the United States unless they permit free emigration by their citizens. The congress is trying to persuade other Jewish organizations to join its effort to have the trade restrictions suspended.

Another group, the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, said on Tuesday that the United States should repeal a 1975 law limiting export credits to the Soviet Union if Moscow kept its promise to adopt a more liberal emigration statute and continued to allow increasing numbers of Jews to leave the country this year. But the union said waiver of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment would not be justified until Soviet Jewish emigration reached 50,000 to 60,000 a year. Soviet Jewish emigration rose from 8,149 in 1987 to 19,343 in 1988, the highest level since 1980. It is expected to total at least 30,000 to 35,000 this year. In 1986, the total was only 914. The statements by the two organizations appear to reflect an emerging consensus that the Soviet Union is entitled to some type of economic benefits if it permits sustained high levels of emigration. But there is still debate about the precise nature of the appropriate response.

The views of these organizations are significant because the State Department says President Bush will take them into account in deciding whether to relax restrictions on trade with Moscow. ''A waiver of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment in the Soviet case would require a strong consensus among the American public, the Congress and the executive branch that recent progress on emigration from the Soviet Union will be sustained,'' said Charles E. Redman, the State Department spokesman.

The law linking trade concessions and emigration is named for its Congressional sponsors, Senator Henry M. Jackson of Washington State and Representative Charles A. Vanik of Ohio, both Democrats. It was passed by Congress as part of the Trade Act of 1974.

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In a joint statement, the National Conference on Soviet Jewry and 18 other Jewish groups said this month that they were ''reviewing and assessing U.S.-Soviet trade policy in acknowledgment of positive changes for Soviet Jews, most notably the increase in Jewish emigration.'' The groups included the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Gorbachev's Position Noted

Philip Baum, associate executive director of the American Jewish Congress, said conservatives in the Soviet Union had harshly criticized Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, saying his policies produced no tangible benefits. ''A waiver of Jackson-Vanik would doubtless be regarded by the Soviets as an appropriate reward for the liberalization of Jewish emigration and would thus shore up Gorbachev's position -and hence his ability to continue his improved policies toward the Jews,'' he said.

Micah H. Naftalin, national director of the Union of Councils for Soviet Jews, said that if the Soviet Union carried out its promise to relax restrictions on emigration and permitted the departure of ''long-term refuseniks,'' the United States should repeal a 1975 law known as the Stevenson Amendment. The law sets a limit of $300 million on loans and loan guarantees that may be provided to the Soviet Union by the Export-Import Bank for the purchase of American goods.

''By international standards of human rights, the Soviets are not up to par yet, but we need to recognize the progress they have already made,'' Mr. Naftalin said.

A version of this article appears in print on February 5, 1989, on Page 1001012 of the National edition with the headline: Some Jews Favor Easing Soviet Trade Curbs. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe